Oh gosh, too many too name. I've been watching the show for years (It's been going since the 80's, I believe) but only in the last year or two have I had the ability to immediately check out the artists I've enjoyed on the internet.

It's not just world artists, even smaller unknown western artists that would never usually be given the time of day on British TV. The likes of Nellie McKay, Tinariwen, Richard Bona, Duffy, Soil & "PIMP" (Of course I was aware of them prior due to their involvement with Shiina, but it was their performance on this show which made me sit up and pay attention), Cat Power, Seasick Steve... quite a few more! Even if I don't check an artist out, it's still great to watch them perform and I love Jools' appreciation for ALL music and the fact that all of the artists on the show must stay on their stage throughout the show and watch the other musicians. It's fun to see people like Thom Yorke nodding his head and smiling while listening to someone like Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Even artists I love now I've watched previously on the show without looking into them, such as Sigur Ros.

You should, if possible, definitely check the show out. It's by far the best music show I've ever seen.

I managed to grab some 192-rips and listened to the whole album last night. It's 14tracks, 1 hour. Pretty long album.

The first few tracks are old school SAPS Death Jazz, as exemplified by their single STORM (youtube link) - it's busy, loud, and explosive.

The rest of the album is actually less busy than what I'm usually used to from SAPS. Some songs sound almost like they came from Sunaga t Experience - it's that loungey. I'd say PLANET PIMP sounds most like their first album PIMPIN', which features a more relaxed, loungey sound than their subsequent albums. Planet Pimp also has some afro-cuban jazz sounds, especially in the track Sea of Tranquility.

I think the album gets progressively better after every song, but a few tracks standout:
STORM, this one has the unmistakable SAPS sound.
Khamasin, I like this because the first half of the song is surprisingly minimalist for SAPS

This album actually ends with a ballad. I would never have imagined them writing a ballad. While not my favourite song on the whole album, it does tie everything in a neat little bow.

I'm gonna have to buy this CD.

__________________"You gotta have freedom! You gotta have freedom. You gotta have peace of mind! You gotta have peace of mind."

They're going to be at Fuji Rock Festival this year (wasn't it obvious~). Kenichi Asai will be there too. How cool would it be to have Ringo guest star in both of the shows, or perhaps a solo show! She's gonna have to promote the new album somehow...

On Friday justriiingo and me went to their gig in Düsseldorf and we were already excited.
Then we went into the hall and were really surprised when we looked at our randomly given seatnumbers.
We got first row exact middle seats. Now in that place "first row" ment basically, that the stage was like 1 m away from our seats.
Of course their sound is nothing to listen to sitting, so after 2 songs Shacho made (almost) everyone stand up and dance, so then we were like half a meter away from the stage, and the pimps went to the front as well, so Moto was basically playing the sax in front of my face from time to time, so that I even had to take a step backwards because I didn't want my nose to be hit.
Justriiingo was like half a meter away from Shacho, I don't think it was any different to just standing inbetween the band, we didn't even need any speakers.

Some of their live versions require the audience to sing along, not just with the pimps, but for the pimps, so that they have another melody line in the song they don't have to play.
(One example can be seen here @ 02:20)

All live version included long and awesome solos, wild agitating by Shacho and an unbelievable amount of sweat by Moto.
In the middle they even let the "J.A.M." part of Soil & "PIMP" Sessions even perform one of their songs, which was quite unexpected and simple awesome.
After their "last tune" the crowd kept singing the melody line of one of the previously played songs, clapping the rythm until they came back for encore.
At the end, the awesomeness was topped with a nice icing, when Moto handed me his onstage oxygentank, so now I even have a souvenire.

Just one handshake away from the PIMPS. simply amazing. I guess I'll go whenever I can reach them from now on